REVIEW: ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic’s ‘Strings Attached’ tour brings parody hilarity to Houston
As a long-time self-professed nerd, I’m an ideal member of the target audience for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s hilarious and geeky parody songs. From a very young age I can recall singing along loudly and passionately to “Yoda,” Yankovic’s popular Star Wars-tinged parody of The Kinks famous “Lola.”
As such, my excitement upon hearing that I’d be attending Yankovic’s “Strings Attached” Tour at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands was through the roof. The very idea of hearing Amish Paradise with a full orchestra was undeniably enticing and exceeded my expectations tenfold.
This latest tour allows the Grammy award-winning parody musician to flex his muscles as a singer rather than a polka enthusiast. “Weird Al” ditches the accordion in favor of a microphone and backing band, only playing the guitar for “You Don’t Love Me Anymore,” ending in the cathartic destruction of the guitar he used to play bits and pieces of the dramatic and undeniably hilarious break-up song.
Complete with backup vocalists, a guitarist, bassist, pianist, drummer and 41 piece orchestra, Yankovic’s hits sound more alive and complete than ever before as he belts out some of his most ambitious works amid live instrumental bliss.
Opening the show were musicians from all around the Houston area who made up the night’s orchestra. The “warm up” set the pace for the show to come as the performers recreated the famous scores of “The Raiders March,” “Mission: Impossible,” Theme from “Superman” and “Star Wars: The Throne Room” and End Credits.
As Yankovic took the stage, he began with a medley of “I Lost on Jeopardy,” “I Love Rocky Road” and “Like a Surgeon.” Playing hit after hit, the show started to get “weird” when Al donned the first costume of the evening for “Smells Like Nirvana” in full Kurt Cobain inspired garb and an accompanying blonde wig.
During the show, timeless music videos from Yankovic’s repertoire were displayed on the video wall during the performance of its corresponding song. Between costume changes, compilations of Yankovic’s heaps of television and film appearances kept the audience laughing until the next song began.
From clips of his classic “Weird Al Show” to appearances in “Transformers” and “The Simpsons” among many others, these compilations left the audience in stitches as Yankovic and his backing band would return to the stage.
Closing out the show were arguably some of Yankovic’s greatest hits “White and Nerdy” and “Amish Paradise” followed by him calling for the end of the show with a bombastic and over-the-top declaration that there’d be no more show.
Of course, Al and company returned to the stage to begin their show-stopping encore. Darth Vader, accompanied by Storm Troopers from the 501st Legion in Houston marched onstage as Yankovic and his band reappeared in Jedi garb as “The Saga Begins” Star Wars-synopsis parody of Don McLean’s “American Pie” echoed back to the stage from an enthusiastic and energetic audience.
Closing out the set with the theme from “Star Wars,” Yankovic belted out the saga-ending “Yoda” as the final performance for the evening. Droves of fans sang along and celebrated as the performance came to a satisfying conclusion, ending an absolutely hilarious, high-energy and instrumentally incredible set.
My expectations were superseded in every way, and I am eager to see “Weird Al” Yankovic perform again, hopefully next time with an accordion and performing some of the deeper cuts from his deep discography.
